| SKUNKS | Mammals known for their ability to spray unpleasant-smelling liquids in self-defence (6) |
| WHALES | Mammals known for their elaborate underwater songs |
| ANTS | Social insects known for their ability to lift many times their own weight. |
| HYDRANGEA | Genus or Latin name of a garden shrub with pink, white or blue flowers known for their ability to ch |
| MEERKATS | Slim, pointy-faced mammals known for their upright pose |
| KUNGFU | Start to kill rampant fungus mostly in self defence (4,2) |
| KARATE | Take a right turn in self-defence (6) |
| WEAPON | One paw may be raised in self-defence (6) |
| KITES | Symbolising friendship in Truman Capote's story A Christmas Memory, floating toys named after raptors remarkable for their ability to hover or hang effortlessly in the air (5) |
| SPRITZ | Act of squirting or spraying liquids in short bursts (6) |
| DORMICE | Small, largely nocturnal rodents, noted for their ability to hibernate for long periods (7) |
| AIKIDO | Excellent knockout I'd welcomed in self-defence |
| TANKER | It carries liquids in bulk (6) |
| GECKOES | Small lizards noted for their ability to climb |
| MONGOOSES | Animals famed for their ability to kill snakes (9) |
| DAM | Innovative Palestinian hip-hop band known for their activism and their ability to rap in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. Many of this band's songs are found in the albums Dedication, Dabke on the Moon, a |
| MARGAYS | Spotted "tree ocelots" that descend head first, owing to their ability to rotate their hind ankles 180 degrees (7) |
| MOLES | Mammals known as "gentlemen in black velvet waistcoats", said to have contributed to the death of Wi |
| SCOTANDLOT | Former tax on all subjects according to their ability to pay (4,3,3) |
| OUTGROW | "Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to ___ small ones": Theodore Roosevelt (7) |
